The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1887-09-24
A Stampede of Cattle.

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"relief" goes on herd in its turn and
watches the cattle for two or three hours
through the night.
As night approaches several of the men
ride out and 'round up" the cattle as
closely as possible without crowding them,
on some comparatively smooth space not
too far from camp. After they are 'sround-
ed up" on the "bed ground" and have
quieted down somewhat the first "relief"
takes charge Of them, and two men ride
slowly around the herd in opposite direc-
tions. If everything is satisfactory to his
bovine majesty he will very soon lie down,
and after chewing the eud of contentment
or grass for awhile doze off and snore as
comfortably as men are sometimes said to
do
But to continue my story. A Mormon
boy and myself were on first ''relief. -
When we went to the herd it had been
rounded up and few of them were already
lying down. The majority of them, how
ever, were grazing as eagerly as though in
stead of doing nothing but eat all afternoon,
they had been fasting for a day or two.
Every now and then some excitable ''crit-
ter" would raise his head and snuff the air
as if to discover the cause of his uneasiness,
for cattle are so much affected by the
change of temperature as the thermometer.
They seem to know by instinct that some
thing unusal is about to occur, and will
plainly indicate by their actions the ap-
proach of a storm. Presently the wind
stopped blowing, and it was but short
time before we had most of the cattle lying
down. 1t is growing very dark, however,
with heavy, leaden clouds slowly gathering
over us, and weknew that although the ele-
ments were SO quiet they could not be
trusted and we were anticipating most any
emergency. Our comparative peace was
of short duration, for it soon commenced
to rain, fine, drizzling, cold and penetrating.
The cattle didn't like it, and at frequent
intervals would express their dissatisfac-
ton by low bellowings, and it was but a
few minutes before they were all on their
feet and seemingly possessed with the most
ravenous appetite. The cold and the rain
made them restless and they all wanted to
Craze out on all sides of the bunch at once.
We had to keep our ponies on trot to
to keep them within bounds. The dark
ness rapidly grew deuser and we could see
an immense black cloud settling down
upon us like a huge blanket. As we were
gradually enveloped within its folds it
seemed as if we were stricken blind. 1t
was utterly impossible to see a thing. 1t
oa,.,,I, .l,,,oat s,n,,d.llo hut ,,ayarth Il alase
is true. Several times passed my hand
across in front of my face and could not
even distinguish an outline. Several times
1 lost the herd entirely and was only re-
called to it by the cough of a steer or the
low singing of my companion, and once
] 11Lffoofe rode square into one of them that gave q
surprised s;aaar and shufled off ip the dark
ness. Then | potidsd a bright little spark
appear at the top Of cisch ear of my horse
This was the only thing could see. My
horses head, neck and eve3 their outlines
were perfectly invisible. IcoSId not account
for the phenomenal appearance. OF these
lights. Afterwards learned thatS'thls oc
ours often on the darkest nights duiSlng
rain and is caused by electricity. They
were only visible for a few minutes, when
they disappeared as mysteriously as they
came.
Meanwhile we were puzzling ourselves
how to keep the cattle from leaving us,
when finally the wind rose again, and dFiv-
ing the clouds before it, our sight was in
measure restored to US. The cattle turned
tail to the wind and rain and started to
drift with it. After riding once around
the herd and getting them together, we
stationed ourselves a few feet in advance
Of the lead, and as they would crowd up
to us we moved few feet further ahead.
The leaders would hold back until crowded
upon us by those behind, when we would
again advance little. In this manner we
kept them from going off, and, although
we would not compel them to face the
storm made them stand aud take it, We
were coRgratRlatips ourselves that we had
lost no cattle so far, as we were still pretty
sure we had not seen the end of it, when
we heard a low rumbliDg peal of thunder,
frequently repeated and preceded by dis
tant but spiteful flashes of lightning. The
rain increased, the wind came in quick and
angry gusts and the cattle were showing
their restlessness by crowding and hooking
each other, and taking excited sRifs Of the
air. we realised that things were rapidly
approaching a climax, and that it wanted
only one sudden flash and loud report to
make the already excited animals break
through the slender bounds that held them
and rush headlong possibly to their own
destruction. In such an emergency our
only hope was to keep them headed away
from the creek, for if they should get a
start in that direction it would be impossi-
BILE to check them before they had plunged
over the bank and to certain death below.
With this object In view we were keeping
ourselves as much as possible between them
and the point of danger when the antici-
pated event occurred.
There came most binding fash, in
stantly followed by clap of thunder as
though the heavens had fallen. All eour
age and restraint instantly left each animal
and before the sound had hardly died away
every one Of them was in mad gallop
with head and tail in the air. Now was
the time for our ponies to show their met
tie, as all depended upon their speed ant
sure-footedness. Leaning forward in the
saddle, and plunging the spurs into theil
fanks, we dashed along over the sage brush
and dog holes, which appeared like nam
moth caves as our quick little animals
deftly cleared them. Up hill and dowr
we rush, riding side by side with the fran
tic leaders of the herd. We are crowdine
them all we can, using our "quirts" on th'
sides of their heads in the endeavor to turr
them. With our repeated blows and con
tinued crowding they gradually swerv'
from their course little by little. If thu
pony should now make misstep, or if he
should miscalculate some jump he makes
and lurch from the saddle, we would never
know how it happened, or ride on another
stampede. But he seems to know as wei
just where to put his feet as if he hat
been over the ground and practiced it al
beforehand. We are gradually turning
them in a circle, and lessening its circum
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